Group Dynamics

Group Dynamics.  Primarily, social psychology is concerned with the way man interacts in groups and how that interaction is responsible for the formation of good social behaviour or unacceptable social behaviour. A social group can be anything from a small family to a large political party or an entire nationality. Every group is made up of different kinds of people. The group is, however, more than just a group of people. There is a social-psychological dynamic that is in operation in even the smallest group that is, as the Gestaltist would say, “more than the sum total of each of the members of that group”.

Long before the appearance of these philosophers, the Bible produced many insights into the relationships of men to other men. Indeed, it is those relationships that make up the course of man’s existence on earth. Although God created man to have a relationship with Himself, the journey that man must make toward that relationship with God is affected to a great extent by his relationships with other men also on that journey. Men that cannot live in harmony with their fellow men will never be able to find their way into a relationship with God.

The Word of God says, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” 1 John 4:20 (KJV).

That part of the study of social psychologists that studies the phenomena of socialization, meaning the process of being made fit or trained for the social environment is focused on how individuals learn the rules governing their behaviour toward one another in society. This aspect of the study of social psychology is believed to include how children learn a language, sex roles, moral and ethical principles, and appropriate behaviour in general.

Attitudes and attitude change is also learned from one’s interaction in social groups. How people feel about persons of different colours, races, religions, and cultural backgrounds are learned largely from the influences of other people in a person’s family, school or other primary groups. Often persons within a group will develop attitudes toward other social classes of people as a primary result of needing to be accepted by their own group rather than any other solid information.